Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Society sets us up to be everything but ourselves, but I want to take a moment and say to people, love yourself. Find your purpose. You are unique, and that makes you great. I pursued my dreams. You can do it, too.
I'm doing activations with companies you would never think of. Not to say this in a braggadocious way, but I'm not putting myself in a box. The only thing that goes in a box is Chinese food and your sneakers - not me.
I clung to my vegan friends for more support than anyone because they helped guide me and made the transition much easier. My family was a bit skeptical, as they felt like I wasn't getting enough protein in my vegan diet.
What are you doing to magnify and grow your business? What are you doing for yourself? You have to self-motivate. I had to learn a million things on Google until I was able to meet people who I could partner with for help.
I get this thing where people are like, 'Man, you got to tell me what to do' - like I have a cheat code to being successful. It's hard work; it's trial and error. I failed, but I never let failure get to my head or to my heart.
I give people on my team the opportunity to excel as well, and I think that's what continues to keep me ahead. I may not be able to show or do an interview; I give them the opportunity to run the show, and that has been working.
For blogs today, it's really about content creation and partnering with a brand. You can get the news in so many forms and so many places. A tweet now is enough to tell you about a story. People don't have to click to go to your site.
A lot of times, you see everyone's highlight reels because of social media. You don't know the work that went into getting to that point. This is something that's going to take time, hard work, and you have to be dedicated towards your craft.
You work hard, you sacrifice for everything you do, and in one second, someone can tarnish your name - someone can bad-mouth you, and someone can say things. People let all of the good things gets washed away because someone spoke ill of them.
Giving back has definitely kept me grounded. Stepping outside of yourself to serve a group or community of people who are in need in some facet has a way of doing that. I don't ever want to grow to a place where giving back becomes a foreign concept.
That's the wonderful thing about picking and choosing who we want to work with, because I've been in situations where I've worked with someone, and they thought they were gonna be on the cover of 'XXL' in two months. I'm like, 'That's not how it works.'
I was born to Haitian parents, and the idea of giving back is really just a part of our culture. So, I don't think there was ever a moment that I questioned my call to philanthropy, but I can say that the more I've grown, the bigger that call has become.
When I had dial-up, my mom got me a phone so I wouldn't tie up the phone. She used to really pick up the phone, push some buttons, and hang it up so the connection could mess up. Now, it's a joke with her, like, 'Look, the Internet's 24/7. I have WiFi now.'
I am not quick to call someone a friend. It is OK to have acquaintances and be associates. We make these words sound bad, but it is about understanding everyone's place in your life. I have a great group of people around me. I value them more than anything.
While working for Diplomat Records, I helped several artists with their online branding and social media. Once I left the label, I worked directly with artists and noticed many artists were overlooked and underrated if they weren't in 'XXL' or 'The Source.'
Do you want to be the girl that's envied, or do you want to be the girl that inspires you? Most people don't know that I am super shy and timid, but online people think I have a big personality. Make sure whatever you do has an overall message and has value.
I wasn't the biggest hip-hop fan, because I had to listen to whatever my parents listened to, so growing up, it was a lot of Dolly Parton, Elvis, and Whitney Houston. When they finally put a TV in my room and I got to listen to MTV Jams I was like: 'Here I am!'
I am the CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of Marathon Agency, a new venture with my business partner Steve Carless. It's a management, branding, marketing, and business strategy. I'm in charge of marketing and branding clients like Nick Cannon, Nicki Minaj, and more.
When I was young, I originally wanted to be a radio on-air personality. Once I realized I may not be fit for that - I was infatuated with hip-hop - that I still wanted to be a part and give back the community, so I decided to carve my own path and make my own lane.
We now live in an era where everybody is rich, and for some reason, everybody has a $20K bag. It is great to have those things, but I want the people who follow me to feel inspired and not jealous. Once you figure out your overall message, then you can push forward.
One of my most memorable moments serving the community was after I built the Live Civil Playground in Haiti, and I visited an orphanage and gave away shoes to all the kids. I also sat with them and helped them design their shoes. The smiles on their faces were priceless.
Coming from a Haitian-American home, I thought it was necessary to give back to the country in which my parents were raised. That is why I believe in Project PlayWorld's efforts to to provide secure playing spaces for the children of Haiti with the Live Civil Playground.
I took business and economics courses. More than anything, I learned the proper steps and the things that need to be outlined. You have to keep your books: how much money you made, how much money you're spending, what you profited, and what you're gonna need for expenses.
I am big on not pushing anything that I wouldn't do or use. I understand my brand, vision, and the story I want to tell. I am not into taking short-cuts like tummy teas or waist trainers. I want my brand to be a lifestyle and very premium but, at the same time, relatable.
I'm just me. I'm that cool girl who - as I like to say, I have that Carson Daly effect, where, if you watched 'TRL,' he was able to do interviews with NSYNC, blend right in, and then he would do interviews with Cash Money and blend in there, and you just naturally liked him.
For me, for a very long time, I was in denial because when you say you're sad or you're overwhelmed, we consider it whining or complaining. People say, 'Count your blessings,' and it's like, 'Yeah, I am, but I'm still sad. Something is wrong with me.' I had to acknowledge it.
In high school, I created a fan group for J.D. Williams, who played Bodie on 'The Wire.' I had the chance to meet him, and he took me to have lunch at IHOP. At that point in my life, I noticed this Internet thing was giving me the chance to check off goals off of my bucket list.
I did the 'right' thing and got a corporate job on Wall Street. That did not last long. I felt like I was throwing all my years of hard work and relationship-building down the toilet. I eventually quit, went and bought a camera, and built a website. That was the birth of KarenCivil.com.
I wanted to focus on creating a solid foundation, creating my blueprint, and understanding who I was. You can get distracted easily, and people take you off course with just a compliment. I wanted the focus to be on Karen Civil the businessperson, not what I wore, not what I looked like.
When I started my career, I never looked at myself as one to be inspirational, but as I continued to grow, I've met so many different people who ask, 'How do you do it? You make it look easy.' But it's not easy. I have certain tricks and tips I use every day that have been working for me.
The blueprint, for me, was having an understanding of self because this business will try to make you somebody other than yourself or make you change with the times. A lot of times, people will want you to do everything for free, work for free, to be down to do this after you paid your dues.
At the end of the day, I'm still an African-American woman in a male-dominated industry, so sometimes you have to deal with people not taking your ideas seriously. But I look at it as, I'd rather have adversities in something that I love than doing something that I hate or where I am not interested.
Nobody is going to love and honor your dreams like yourself. It's really not looking for someone to be your superhero but for us to save ourselves and to really understand that. I've been at the lowest of lowest of my life, and it took that for me to realize that I want to do better and to be better.
Words do cut, and they do hurt. It was one thing growing up where you were bullied, but you'd just come home. Now you can't really escape it. It's to a point where you turn off that phone, you live your life, and you try not to let the words of others offend or stop you from being you and living your life.
People see your life on social media, and they say, 'Oh my gosh, it's perfect,' and I'm like, 'No, every day, it's not even just a struggle: it's something new, and it's a new challenge to make sure that I'm mentally stable and healthy and that I'm okay.' It was just great to finally get it out and talk about it.
I fell in love with hip-hop a little bit late; I grew up on Another Bad Creation and Kris Kross. But my mom got me a TV in my room, and I remember seeing Biggie's 'Give Me One More Chance,' and I was like, 'Oh, this is how a house party looks!' I really, really fell in love with it when Tupac created 'Dear Mama.'
I admired and wanted to be a lot like Angie Martinez. As I got older, I realized that I had a soft monotone voice and that being a DJ may not be the career for me. However, I was so in love and infatuated with hip-hop that I still wanted to be a part and give back the community, so I decided to carve my own path and make my own lane.
I just knew I loved music, and I wanted to do something in music, but I couldn't sing, I can't dance, I am an introvert. So I was like, 'What exactly is there for me to do? What can I do?' There's all these questions, there's all these things that are telling you 'no' instead of 'yes.' Those are the things I dealt a lot with, my insecurity.